Rapid Response to do $11.3m expansion, add 70 jobs

SYRACUSE, N.Y.—Rapid Response Monitoring will begin an $11.3 million construction project next summer that will add 22,000 square feet of space to its headquarters here, Morgan Hertel, VP of operations at Rapid, told Security Systems News.

The expansion, he said, is designed to accommodate the growth of the company's national accounts base. “We are growing, plain and simple, and require more space,” he said. “We have an excellent platform to provide the most state-of-the-art services, and dealers that understand that are drawn to us.”

As part of the expansion, Rapid plans to add 70 jobs in the coming months, mostly operations positions such as dispatchers, data entry employees and customer support. The new jobs, Hertel noted, will also include “some IT and technical support.” 

The expanded facility “will add capacity to the existing facility, but it will also make our existing staff more comfortable,” Hertel said. “We'll have expanded employee break rooms, enhanced training areas and a new revitalized operations floor.”

The $11.3 million project will be funded in part by a $2.5 million grant awarded last year by the state's Empire State Development Corp. According to a report from Syracuse.com, the city gave Rapid a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal for the expansion. 

On the opposite coast, a second major project is currently in progress. Construction on Rapid's second monitoring center, located in Corona, Calif., is slated to be finished in the coming months. Hertel noted that 30 employees will begin working at the facility “sometime in January or February.”

“[Both projects] are important to our success,” he said. “California will be a full-service 24-hour operation with capacity to take the entire load if necessary.”